Akiko's Story
by readandwrite4evernever20
Summary: Akiko and her sister Akira ran away from their dull lives in a village to the excitement of Republic City. But all is not as expected and heartbreak and loss will forever affect Akiko and who she sees herself to be. A backstory for my OC Akiko from "What's Been Lost".


**Hey, so I felt like once I mentioned Akiko's sister, her backstory was waiting to be told. I pictured her as starting out quiet and dependent on Akira for everything, and then learning to be her own person. **

**I really have grown to love Akiko, and I hope you do, too. This is dedicated to Marina Rose 3**

**I do not own Legend of Korra.**

Akiko woke up to a thud. Startled, she peered around the small room she and her sister shared. A small golden flame illuminated the face of Akira, her 16-year old sister, who was anxiously stuffing a sweater into her canvas bag.

"Kir?" Akiko half-whispered, "What are you doing? Mommy said it's bedtime."

Akira started, unaware her little sister was awake. "I'm leaving, Ko. Aren't you tired of this place? You know, Republic City is _so_ close. Things are exciting there. A girl my age can have a _life_ there, unlike this stuffy little village. Have you ever heard of Pro-bending? It's this sport where each team has a firebender, an earthbender, and a waterbender, and they fight in an arena and try to push each other of the platform, and-oh, nevermind! You can see it for yourself! Why not come, Ko? You'd love it there, too!"

"Where will we sleep?" Akiko asked slowly, considering the offer. She _was_ bored. The only future she had here was marrying one of the three boys in the village about her age and doing nothing but housekeeping until she died. She wanted adventure. She looked up to her big sister so very much, and if Akira thought this was the answer, it must be.

Akira's eyes were shining in the glow from her self-made fire. "I have a bit saved up from working in the bakery. It'll be enough for a small apartment until I make enough money for a house. Just think, Akiko! A house, not a little hut, but a real _house! _ And we can live there together and I'll be a Pro-Bender and you could-oh, I don't know, but you can do _anything_ in Republic City!"

Excited, Akiko began to pack her own bag, sewn from an old mat. She quickly stuffed some clothes, her hairbrush, and a red hair ribbon Akira had given her for her birthday this year. "I'm ready, Kir!" she announced softly, meeting Akira beside her pallet.

Kir lifted Akiko, small for her age, unto her shoulders and tiptoed quietly outside. "Should we say goodbye to Mommy and Daddy?" Akiko whispered in her sister's ear as they paused outside the only home they had ever known, and a light rain was beginning to moisten their light pajamas.

"No," Akira said softly, "I left a note. We're running away, we can't tell them or they'll just try and stop us."

"Oh, okay." SHe didn't know if it was quite okay, but she agreed nonetheless.

Akiko shifted uncomfortably on Akira's shoulder while they walked the worn dirt path that led to the acclaimed Republic City. Surrounded on both sides by trees and the occasional stream, it was a peaceful, if not slightly eerie, journey.

"Kir?"

"Yes?"

"How far is Republic City?"

"A few hours, I think. You can sleep if you want."

"But I'm awake now!"

"Then be awake, little one."

"Kir, I'm 10 now! I'm big!"

"Of course you are, I forgot," she replied with mock seriousness.

Eventually, Akiko nodded off, and woke up in a new place.

"That was an amazing match!" Akiko raved, gesturing excitedly as the two sisters exited a Pro-Bending match. They both smiled in the glow of the arena's lights, wearing dark green in support of the Ostrich Horses, their favorite team.

Akiko personally didn't know why they liked the team so much, but she guessed it was because Akira had a crush on the muscular earthbender boy on the team, Hansuke.

"You hungry?" Akira asked as the smell of hot noodles wafted past them

"Yeah, a little," Akiko answered, looking at the sign down the street with a bowl of noodles carved into it.

"Want noodles? This night is too much fun to go back to the apartment now." Her face was still bright with the thrill she always got from the sport.

Though Akira was a talented firebender, she hadn't yet acquired a position on a team. For the time being, she was working in an antique shop near the arena, where Akiko would sit on the edge of the counter and listen to the news and matches on the radio.

"Sounds great. That firebender had some really cool moves, didn't he, Kira?"

"Sure did. I bet I could do that, though. It looked kind of easy, really." She paused, bending her knees and drawing back her elbows before shooting her dists forward and producing jets of flame. "See?"

Akiko felt a little sad inside. At 13, she was pretty sure she wasn't going to discover she was a bender, and had resigned herself to the fact that she could never be a Pro-Bender like Akira wanted to be.

Looking over, Akira's expression softened. "Aw, it's ok, Kiko. There are lots of really important people who can't bend!"

"Like who?"

"Like the wonderful Mr. Lee whose Noodle Palace is going to feed us."

"But I want to be like you, Kira. Mom and Dad can't bend. Only Dad's dad can. You got it, I didn't."

"Whatever, Akiko. You don't need it to be happy. Let's go eat."

Everything went wrong in seventeen seconds. Two men came at Akira from behind, yanking her head back by her glossy black ponytail and pinning her arms to her sides. "Where's your money?" One of the men grunted, getting a bit too handsy with the young woman.

Akira shrieked, trying to summon her element for protection. The man laughed, calling upon his own, deadlier firebending. Akira struggled, and briefly freed herself long enough to shoot a ball of flame at the smaller of the two men, while yelling for Akiko to run.

Akiko found that she couldn't run. She wanted to, she was _scared_. But Akira was a good fighter. She'd be okay, Akiko told herself.

Until she wasn't. Akiko watched in still silence as the large man jumped at her big sister, setting her clothes aflame and hanging her by the collar of her sweater in the wrought iron fence of the arena.

Akira's screams quickly drew attention, and people ran to her aid while the muggers made off with her wallet. Though the people meant well, it was too late. Akira was dead when they put the flames out, and Akiko's world ended.

All for seven yuans.

It was in one of the cold nights that followed that Akiko found her fire. She was having a nightmare, as usual, while sleeping alone in the apartment they used to share. Akira did the best she could, but their apartment wasn't first-class. It was drafty, and smelled faintly of mildew. But now, it was all Akiko had.

Laying shivering and wrapped in Akira's favorite burgundy tunic, Akiko cried and mourned her hero, her best friend. She had no idea where to go from here, Akira had been her life, had always made decisions for both of them, guided Akiko in what to do and how to feel.

Sadness, yes, that was there. But anger was the more present emotion, very nearly tangible in its abundance. Anger at how the big man had assaulted Akira, humiliated her before she was murdered. The pain she must have felt... and they caused it.

She was suddenly filled by intense heat, feeling so full to the brim of hatred for those men that she was sure she would explode. Just when she had had enough, Akiko Kaji bent fire.

Where she once would have been overjoyed at this discovery, Akiko was scared. Not just scared, she was terrified. It was this element that had brought about Akira's death. It had tortured her and taken her life much too soon. Fire killed Akira, and Akiko had just set the small table alight. Screaming in panic over the reminder, she continued long after volunteers rushed in with water, extinguishing the small blaze.

They looked as if they meant to reprimand her, until they recognized her face. The Girl Whose Sister Burned. No wonder fire spooked her. But she didn't want their sympathy. That, too, angered her. She didn't want to be patronized.

Piece by piece, Akiko learned about herself, and forged a new identity out of the ashes.

Old Akiko was afraid of fire. New Akiko was trying out for a spot on the Ostrich Horses. The firebender Akira once thought cute had permanently injured his leg during a practice, and needed a replacement.

Akiko hit each of the targets on the mark with her carefully controlled flame. She easily outperformed all the others in the sparring rounds. She lasted longer than any other against both the team's fairly new earthbender, Habiki, and a waterbender with a seemingly permemanent smirk, Mizu.

She was on the team. She was a Pro-Bender. Akira would be proud.

Even with her earnings from victories and odd jobs on the side, Akiko couldn't afford to keep her old apartment. For three years, she had worked nearly nonstop to maintain rent, but she was becoming exhausted, and her performance in matches was suffering.

She didn't want to live alone, though. Not anymore. New Akiko was strong, and didn't depend on anyone but herself, but she was also lonely.

She became friends with a snack vendor at the arena. Qing-Yuan Liu was also sixteen. She was a quiet non-bender also looking for a new place to live.

Over a year, the girls grew closer. The both seemed to be united by a shared sense of loss, never spoken about but felt, in the quiet moments here and there, when neither knew what to say. But Qing-Yuan reminded Akiko of Akira, and of the value of kindness and compassion.

The edge would always remain, but she softened a bit.

She learned to accept this girl as a sort of new sister. Never a replacement, but still filling the void, if only halfway. She learned to accept love.

The Ostrich Horses lost; they were out of the champs. Qing-Yuan was a waterbender, who had lost her abilities to the Equalists along with her little sister, Meiling. For the first time in years, Akiko spoke of Akira, and shared her burden with another. It felt good, strangely comforting. Akira would never return, but Meiling could. So Akiko devoted herself to helping Qing-Yuan regain what's been lost.

And through the sadness and pain, Akiko was...

_happy._


End file.
